What Walker Kessler is good at are things he is among the very best at in the NBA. He's one of the league's best rim protectors, and he's one of the league's best shot-blockers. With those two plusses alone, it's pretty clear he's a keeper for the Utah Jazz.
Recently, the Jazz have tried expanding his game further to see if he could add a three-point shot to his arsenal. Utah was a solidified tanker before the season even began, and now that their focus is getting the best lottery odds possible, it didn't hurt to try something out with nothing left to lose.
It was an interesting idea at first, but the results have not been good, and they are starting to affect his stats in other areas.
Walker Kessler started his 3-point shooting barrage five games ago. He's 3/24 3s and 19/53 FGs overall, including today's game so far.
— David J. Smith (@davidjsmith1232) March 23, 2025
He was an NBA-leading 73.5% before that and has fallen to 67.6%, good for #3 in the league.
it would be cool to see Kessler turn into a deep threat, but the Jazz are not only taking Kessler out of his comfort zone, but these efforts to develop him into a floor-spacer are affecting his other stats too. It's not worth taking Kessler away from what makes him so good on offense if what he's trying to do instead is leading to even poorer results.
It especially looks bad knowing something else about the Jazz.
The Jazz already have enough stretch bigs as is
Having a big man who can space the floor is a luxury. If the Jazz didn't have any on the roster, then there's a case to be made to continue this experiment, but not only do the Jazz have big men who can shoot from deep. They have three.
Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski, and John Collins are all capable floor spacers. In fact, Markkanen is one of the premier stretch bigs in the league, and Filipowski isn't too far behind him. Collins isn't as respected, but he has proven that he can knock down a few consistently.
It sounds cool to have four of them, but Kessler has proven that his best asset offensively is being down low for the offensive boards. The fact that he can score inside shows that it's very effective to have someone like him on the offensive end.
If they continue this experiment, they also run the risk of having Kessler take threes away from their more dependable options. Even if Kessler manages to prove he can hit threes, opponents will still look at that and think that's the shot they're willing to give up anyway.
With the roster the Jazz have now, this experiment feels pointless and potentially dangerous. Kessler's evolution has been the best part of the Jazz's season. There's no need to mess with something that's clearly working.